He's Not Here
by awkward-nerdy-person
Summary: Annie's son brings his girlfriend to dinner, but Annie's a little pre-occupied. A little angsty. Minor language, but nothing too major. Review please?


**A/N: I was really thinking about Annie's son, and what he would do in a situation like this, so here ya go! Inspired by He's Not Here from the musical Next To Normal, which is only one of my FAVORITE MUSICALS EVER- of course I'd definitely recommend it to EVERYONE- and I feel like a lot of the songs could relate to the Odairs. Enjoy!**

**-Em :)**

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I guide Maura to the table and pull her seat out for her, determined that tonight will go perfectly. No flashbacks, no fights- just a normal dinner with my mother and my girlfriend.

My mother walks past us, muttering quietly to herself, as usual.

"Hello, Mrs. Odair!" Maura greets her, but my mother says nothing in reply as she walks through the swinging door.

I involuntarily tense up, because I know what muttering leads to. Muttering leads to talking, and with my mother, talking usually leads to untrue stories, and then tears, and then fighting. I love my mother dearly- I know she's been through way too much at a way too young age, but her not being "there" all the time isn't very helpful to an (almost) sixteen-year-old boy. And those times are always when I kind of need her there for something important.

Like today. I told her I wanted her to meet my girlfriend, and she seemed completely on board with it, like a normal mother, but something was- and is- definitely up, because she wanted the kitchen all to herself today.

Oh God, this is going to be a total screw-up.

Maura must feel me tense up, because she puts a hand to my shoulder and whispers into my ear, "It's okay, Finn. It's going to be fine."

But I realize that I'm definitely not put at ease by her words as ten, twenty, thirty minutes tick by as I'm left sitting in an awkward silence with Maura.

Just when I'm about to give up and go into the kitchen and start helping, my mother bursts into the dining room, holding a sea-green cake with white, sloppily-drawn frosting waves criss-crossing it.

"It's someone's birthday!" she says excitedly.

"You didn't tell me it was your birthday, Finn!" Maura squeals into my ear.

"It's not," I say to her, quietly and quickly, because the smile is definitely leaving my mother's face.

"Then who's birthday is it?" Maura asks.

"My father's," I tell her. My mother's face looks conflicted.

"Finn, you told me that you didn't have a father," Maura continues, still oblivious to the whole horrible scenario unfolding in front of us.

"I don't, Maura," I finally whisper to her, "he died in the New Revolution. Before I was born."

The color drains from her face as she realizes this. Without another word, she gets up and heads for the door.

"Maura," I call after her, "Maura, wait-"

The door shuts heavily behind her.

I turn towards my mother, my deranged nutcase of a mother, who is still standing there, holding the cake. The damned sea-green cake that I know she made because my father's eyes were sea-green. Just like mine.

"Why did she leave, Finn?" she asks.

I lose it. "You seriously don't know why she left, Mom? She left because she came here to meet you and didn't know that you were going to bake a cake for my dead father!"

My mother comes towards me. "Finn-"

"GODDAMMIT, MOM, DON'T YOU GET IT?" I scream, knocking the cake out of her hands and onto the floor. "He's dead! He's not here! He's been dead for the better part of sixteen years now! Why can't you see that he's dead?"

She doesn't answer, she just looks at me, then at the cake, then at me.

"He's dead, Mom," I say a little softer, "And Maura never had to know."

She bends down next to the cake and I leave her there, running out the back door and slamming it behind me as I run towards the beach on the edge of our yard, where Maura is now a tiny speck.

"Maura!" I scream, running after her, trying not to lose her. "Maura!"

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**A/N: Reviews are always welcome! Sorry for the brief language. It was necessary.**

**-Em :)**


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